First Day of School Jitters: Sunday Confessional

It’s just about time for me to head to work for Sunday brunch… I enjoy this shift, because even if we are incredibly slow an eggs benedict (sub out some regular bacon, sorry my notoriously-nice-Canadian friends your bacon just doesn’t do anything for me) and a bloody mary or a Smithwicks afterward is one of my life’s simple pleasures. Hollandaise can make almost anything better, you know. Yes, even the: Am I making the right decision to send my kids to school jitters.

::deep breath::

It’s been a long week of clothes shopping, open house, work, more work, the great school lunch stuff grocery shopping trip, etc. Throw in a virus someone picked up and shared from football practice and I’m just about done with it all.

Whenever I mention that all three of my kids are going to school for the first time and that I’ll have the house to myself during the day people say, “You won’t know what to do with yourself.”

Pardon me, but I know exactly what I’m going to do with myself. I’m going to write and catch up on Home-Ec 101 without children perching on my shoulders. I’m going to clean, because oh my, working nearly full time at the pub has taken its toll, too. (There’s the confession -working two jobs makes taking my own advice really dang hard.) I’m going to cook and take photos -see above about writing and catching up on Home-Ec101. Keeping busy has never been a problem for me. Learning how to relax? That may be.

I followed @MindyWinn’s advice and purchased three of these hanging closet organizers for the kids. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime -which I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about, but kept me from running out to Target, again and the organizers will be here on Tuesday. I spent yesterday afternoon washing and folding laundry -at what point do you condemn loner socks to the rag bin?- and sorting the kids’ clothing into outfits. Right now the outfits have grocery bags for the socks and underwear looped around the hangers which are hanging from the curtain rods in my bedroom. It is CLASSY, I tell you.

I spent most of the afternoon doing this, while watching my own personal Torchwood marathon on Netflix. Let’s face it, being kept company by a handsome Captain Jack Harkness can even make matching socks better.

Since it’s Mindy’s fault I spent yesterday holed up in my bedroom with laundry -no she didn’t give me the virus, but I still blame her- she gets the digital copy of Home-Ec 101: Skills for Everyday Living I promised. If she already has a copy, she can tell me (in email) who she would like to give it to.

So for the TL/DR crowd this week, I confessed:

I have a weakness for hollandaise, I don’t like Canadian bacon, I haven’t been good about taking my own advice, I’m nervous about school starting tomorrow, I’m tired of people telling me I’ll be lonely during the day,there are 15 hangers with plastic grocery bags and outfits currently hanging in my bedroom, and I like a weird British Sci-Fi series.

11 Comments

deneicer1on August 29, 2012 at 4:16 pm

I realize it is no longer Sunday …. :)I am terrified to send my daughter to school on the bus. I am relieved not to have to get up and drive her everyday for the first time; yes. However, my son had horrible stories to tell of what actually happened on the bus; I am sure you don’t need any help imagining high school students’ on a bus with little supervision. I am also so frightened (because I watch the news on occasion!) and my 14 year old daughter leaves by herself. She waits until the other kids start walking to the stop before she leaves … but I still worry. It is a sad, sad world in which we live.I am sure there are other things to confess; like my house is a mess because I’ve been lazy, now I am sick so it sure isn’t going to get done now! and I have tons of half-started projects that I need to finish. Hmmmm …. sounds like I need some motivation and organizational tools … maybe even a ****gasp!**** schedule for my day.Heather, Thanks, as always for the great blogs. I KNOW you are going to have plenty to do during the day and you will find a great place for some adult friendship/interaction at least once a week … even if it is your local *bucks. 🙂 Adult interaction = good!

Oh, Heather, I’m quite impressed. I’ve read your blog on occasion and never picked up on the fact that you have 3 young kids! I always assumed that they must be older in order for you to have the time to create such a high quality blog. Enjoy your “down”time because when the kiddos come home the crazy afternoon of..snack/homework/driving to activities/prepping dinner/picking up from activities/finishing dinner/stopping at the store (with a kid or 3 in tow)/ finding a neighbor kid having a snack in your kitchen/ trying to fold and put away that last load of laundry/set the table/unloading the dishwasher/clearing the table/making lunches/reminding and then threatening a stinky kid or 2 who won’t shower etc… begins. Sometimes it feels like an extra rough jolt back into mommy mode after the house being quiet all day. I love when my kids come home but I have to prepare myself for the noise and hectic pace we experience until bedtime. So promise me you’ll do something for yourself! Shari

@Shari thank you, that’s very kind of you. It’s been an adventure and there are times I’m better at it than others. . . I did hire childcare a year ago to help out, since I had a fair amount of traveling with the release of the book and a few other things. That was quite possibly the best decision I made. I felt less like I was pulled in a thousand directions. I am looking forward though to not having to leave the house to “find a quiet place” although I may want to from time to time just for a change of scenery.

Yes, it will seem strange the first morning but you’ll figure out what to do with yourself very fast! Going to the bathroom in peace is one of the great delights of having no children around. And then there’s talking on the phone without someone shouting at you.

Lonely? I think not. I’ve had my oldest in school for the first time for a little over a week. I can’t believe what all I’ve gotten done. I can’t imagine 3 kids going off, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they will love it!As far as the socks, loner socks get tossed into a separate laundry basket, and I try to go through it at least once a month. Every 6 months I do a purge, and they become rags.

JessicaRWebb not only that, but I was plenty lonely when it was just the kids and me. I love my kids, but adult interaction with actual friends staves off the loneliness (at least for me).I tend to think about tossing the loners and giving them “one more chance,” so who knows how long some of have been on the laundry table.

With regard to the sock question – when I was a kid, my mother had a “sock bucket” – I actually think it was an old diaper pail, probably left from my baby days. For all I know, she still has it!Whenever there were loner socks (and with 4 kids, there were ALWAYS loner socks!) they went into the sock bucket. Every now and then, someone’s punishment would be to “sort through the sock bucket.”

Kris Bryant we had a sock basket and every once in a while my mom would say it was time to have a “sock party” and we all had to help match socks. At first it was fun, but eventually the novelty wore off and we dreaded the sock parties. . .